social scientist, journalist and author

business of sports

Six years after India first won the cricket World Cup in 1983, the sociologist Ashis Nandy famously wrote, “Cricket is an Indian game, accidentally invented by the British.” With the euphoria over Dhoni’s triumph still washing over us, those words spring back. Cricket has long had a social and political dimension in this country and […..]

The comment of the week: Commonwealth Games Organising Committee Secretary General Lalit Bhanot saying in all seriousness that foreign standards of cleanliness may be different from ours, when accosted by the filth of the Games Village. If this had come from a Westerner we would have pilloried him for racism and for besmirching the name […..]